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Connor, the Blue Crown Conure

Went to a bird fair today, I was NOT buying a bird.......I was prepared to have my heart strings tugged repeatedly, but I was NOT buying a bird!!! Toys for Dorian, maybe some ideas of stuff to make for her, maybe even a huge new cage.

Yeah, I came home with an 8 year old DNA sexed male Blue Crown Conure named Connor.

I know MBS is not a laughing matter, but I can't help but laugh at myself for being so easily convinced by a 14" long feathered sour puss that I needed to bring him home.

Dorian seems to be tolerating him well so far, he had a long day so he's mostly hanging from the top of his new cage sleeping, which Pete finds hilarious.

I was looking for a conure when we found Dorian, makes me wonder what we'll get next year when I planned to get a baby Grey.....lol.

Re:Connor, the Blue Crown Conure

Siobha, he isn't hand tame....his original owner had him very tame and she got a new boyfriend and Oscar, as in "the grouch" (formerly Connor) HATED him so he hasn't really been handled much for a while. She gave him to her aunt who has quite a few birds but he hated her too and I don't think she had much time to try to convince him to like her. We got him from the aunt who had a few birds at the show that she was re-homing. Several of the vendors there had massive amounts of birds to sell, and I wouldn't buy from any of the "breeders for profit" that I saw. We haven't been able to get him to step up yet, I figured to give him a few days to settle in and then I'd start working on that, I'm sure he knows the command. I wasn't buying a bird......lol.......so I had to buy a cage, toys, a bed, etc.....lol. Oh, and I couldn't come home without things for Dorian too...

Tari, we are keeping everything separate and hand sanitizing/washing between handling them and their stuff. Do we need to put him in a separate room? If so he'll be off in a room no one uses all alone and 45 days is a long time for him to not be very socialized with us. He's a grouch, which is why I want to change his name. But considering the issues Dorian had and how quickly we've made progress with her I'm certain with love, patience, treats, and persistence we can turn him around.

Judy, he is a bit of a clown, we got him in a nice new big cage last night and he just kept doing laps around the top of the cage. Pete and I just kept laughing at the upside down pacing. He seems willing to explore the cage more this morning.

Re:Connor, the Blue Crown Conure

Ya he does need to be in a different room. However it may be to late now. Not sure maybe someone that knows more about it might help. I do know many illnesses are air born. Until you can find out I would go ahead and move him just in case its not to late.

Re:Connor, the Blue Crown Conure

Congratulations Pat, im afraid it happens to the best of us i know MBS is not a laughing matter, but it is a horrid disease We all know are limits as far as keeping multiple birds & i wish you many a happy days with your growing flock

Re:Connor, the Blue Crown Conure

Actually, there's a few conures that do much better when sharing an area with other parrots ( not the same cage though). BCC is one of them. Nanday and Jenday are also good for that. As with almost all parrots, having another cage is and was the best way to go. GCC are extremely playful. Even though the bird did things in the past with others, such as step up, with that species, it takes a while to conform to doing the same things with new people. Your new bird has been shuffled around a bit so the best thing is to do a lot of calm talking. Pretty soon, you'll see that playfullness come out. Have some loose hanging toys and some ropes around cause they love to get upside down and hold on and yap.
I'm not sure if you have a grey yet but there should be no problems if you do get one. More than likely they'll ignore each other.
BCC aren't known to bite but if they do, it most likely will be of the warning types.
Give it a little time. That step up action will return and happen very soon.
Noise--GCC aren't known to make as much noise like other Cs such as the Suns. What will probably happen if you do get a grey that happens to be into sounds, he'll pick up what the GCC is saying ( in parrotese). The chances of that heppening are better with a TAG as opposed to a CAG. CAGS will eventually get bored. A TAG thrives on doing that.

Re:Connor, the Blue Crown Conure

Thanks for all the info Dave, we do have a re-homed CAG who is doing pretty well, considering all she went through. This morning the two of them are mimicking back and forth and raising quite a ruckus I guess. (I'm at work and missing all the fun, lol) We did get lots of hanging toys and ropes as I had done some research on conures before we even got our CAG so I had some idea of what he would need.

One thing I am not sure of though, while I'm posting.....do I need to get him a cuttlebone or mineral block? Our CAG has a mineral block, but never uses it, and the cockatiel has a cuttlebone....wasn't sure which the conure needs.